Resilience

This is the second article in my series of 24 stories of Chinese paragons, one for each VIA character strength. Even though the authors of Character Strengths and Virtues reviewed literature from major cultures around the whole world to select the 24 character strengths, the book’s paragon stories are predominantly Western. I hope this series can be a small supplement to a shared and global picture of human strengths.

Positive psychology movies are not only the lighthearted films that inspire and elevate us, but also the movies that teach us something about the human condition, help us face suffering, and shine a light on pain and tragedy. You’ll see a mixture of both types of films in my offering of the Positive Psychology Movie Awards for 2011. This is part 1. Come back tomorrow for the awards for character strengths—and the best picture award.

The holiday season and the New Year can be pretty stressful, but this time of year provides us with some ideal opportunities for savoring – noticing, appreciating, and enhancing the things which are already positive in our lives – and there is nothing easier to do. The rules of savoring are simple to follow, and you don’t need any special skills or equipment. In fact anyone, young or old, rich or poor, can learn how to savor and reap the benefits.

I was very excited to be asked to review Sue Roffey’s latest book. Previously a teacher, Roffey is now an educational psychologist, consultant, and writer. The book’s aim is to go beyond what teaching manuals usually do, which is to provide ways to manage poor pupil behavior so that it doesn’t disrupt other students’ learning. This book also provides the strategies to foster positive pupil behavior.

The opening night at the IPPA World Congress included naming 6 new IPPA fellows, followed by addresses from three exceptional men. Ed Diener on 5 research findings, Chris Peterson on 6 directions that positive psychology is moving, and Martin Seligman on measuring and extending well-being.

Can going to the movies make you a better person? It depends on the type of positive emotions the film elicits. At last week’s IPPA World Congress, I was captivated with Lindsay Doran’s presentation on “Hollywood and Happiness.” After thirty years in the industry, she thought she knew everything there was to know about movies. That was until she met Martin Seligman.

My mother was the victim of an armed robbery. Revisiting this trauma reminds her (in her words) “to hold them in the light.” How is my mother able not just to allay her anger and to practice forgiveness, but actually to desire the elevation of her aggressors?

New research by psychologist Iris Mauss and colleagues suggests that valuing happiness itself could be self-defeating and actually lead to disappointment. They conducted two studies, one a correlational study and another that manipulated how much people valued happiness.

Never in our generation have we needed resilience so much en masse, as we find ourselves in times of austerity, budget cuts, unprecedented job losses, divorce numbers, mental illness escalating and on it goes… Resilience: How to Navigate Life’s Curves, edited by Senia Maymin and Kathryn Britton, is a collection of some of the finest articles on the subject selected from Positive Psychology News Daily.

Historically and culturally, Positive Psychology took a giant leap forward this summer with two complementary international conferences held in China on Positive Behavioral Science and Positive Education. These events aimed…

There has been a lot of press about health, fitness, and obesity lately. It seems like everywhere we turn, there are new stats telling us why we need to pay…